Offices Held

Biography

The main estates of the Bellot family were at Moreton, Cheshire, eight miles from Newcastle, although they also owned half the lordship of the nearby manor of Horton. After sitting as an Exclusionist, Bellot became a Whig ‘collaborator’ under James II. After the 1690 election, the Marquess of Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne†) classed him as a Whig, and in April 1691 Robert Harley* listed him as a Country supporter, although with a qualification which may query this analysis. However, Bellot was not an active Member, so there is little other evidence on which to base an assessment of his politics. On Grascome’s list of 1693 (extended to 1695) he was classed as a Court supporter, an analysis not inconsistent with Whiggery. Furthermore, he was mentioned as having canvassed support for Hon. Henry Paget* against the Tory critic of the Court, Sir Walter Bagot, 3rd Bt.*, in preparation for the Staffordshire by-election of 1693. There is no trace of him standing for re-election in 1695.3

Upon his return for Newcastle at the 1698 election, Bellot was forecast as likely to oppose the standing army and on an analysis of the old and new Parliaments, was classed as a Country supporter. Clearly, contemporaries expected him to adopt the stance of a Country Whig on this issue, but his loyalty to the Whig ministers may have proved stronger for in the crucial division of 18 Jan. 1699 he voted against the disbanding bill. Whether this vote represented an example of a move from Country to Court cannot be determined with any degree of certainty because Bellot died in August 1699. He was succeeded by his son, who represented Newcastle for two short periods in Anne’s reign.4